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NSA leaks reporter says detention won't deter him

By Bradley Brooks and Danica KirkaAssociated Press

Posted:
08/19/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
08/19/2013 09:46:20 PM CDT

RIO DE JANEIRO -- An American journalist who has written stories based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said Monday that he'll publish with more fervor after British authorities detained his partner.

London police detained David Miranda, who is in a civil union with reporter Glenn Greenwald, under anti-terror legislation at Heathrow Airport in London airport Sunday. Miranda arrived Monday in Rio de Janeiro, where he lives with Greenwald.

A defiant Greenwald, who reports for the Guardian newspaper in Britain, promised he was going "to write much more aggressively than before" about government snooping.

"I'm going to publish many more things about England, as well," he said in Portuguese at Rio's international airport when Miranda arrived. "I have many documents about England's espionage system, and now my focus will be there, too. I think they'll regret what they've done."

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. government was tipped off by British counterparts that Miranda would be detained, but that the U.S. had not requested the action.

The Brazilian government objected to Miranda's detention, saying it wasn't based on any real threat.

London's Metropolitan Police defended the decision to detain Miranda, saying the examination was both "necessary and proportionate."

The statement said an attorney had been offered to Miranda, but the Brazilian later told the Guardian that he refused to use the lawyer out of fear of the British government.

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Miranda told the Guardian on Monday that agents questioning him "were threatening me all the time and saying I would be put in jail if I didn't cooperate."

Miranda said he was seized almost as soon as his plane landed at Heathrow.

In London, a British lawmaker called for police to explain why Miranda was detained and why it took nearly nine hours to question him.

Miranda was held for nearly the maximum time that British authorities are allowed to detain individuals under the Terrorism Act's Schedule 7, which authorizes security agencies to stop and question people at borders.

Keith Vaz, chairman of Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee, told the BBC that "you have a complaint from Mr. Greenwald and the Brazilian government -- they indeed have said they are concerned at the use of terrorism legislation for something that does not appear to relate to terrorism. So it needs to be clarified, and clarified quickly."

Vaz said it was "extraordinary" that police knew that Miranda was Greenwald's partner and that the authorities were targeting partners of people involved in Snowden's disclosures.

The case drew the ire of watchdog groups.

"It's incredible that Miranda was considered to be a terrorist suspect," said David Mepham, the British director at Human Rights Watch. "On the contrary, his detention looks intended to intimidate Greenwald and other journalists who report on surveillance abuses."

Britain's laws are not unique. U.S. customs officials can search the electronic devices of anyone entering the U.S. without a search warrant.

Greenwald has written about NSA surveillance programs based on files disclosed by Snowden, who now has temporary asylum in Russia. The Obama administration wants Snowden sent back to the United States to be tried for the leaks.